


Fascinating

by anassa_anemou



Category: Captain America (Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: AU - Bars/Pubs, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-14
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 15:45:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1784494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anassa_anemou/pseuds/anassa_anemou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve can place the person in front of him, but something in that smile makes him think of someone back home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aurilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aurilly/gifts).



Steve looks around him and wishes he wasn’t there, it’s palpable in his eyes how tired he is, even if the serum doesn’t let any dark circles appear. Bucky dragged him here, to avoid the mood around the camp and Steve just followed because he needed something, even if he wasn’t sure of what. There aren’t orders, not yet, and Colonel Phillips and Peggy been in a shouting match for a few days now, still trying to figure out the ramifications of Steve infiltrating in the Hydra’s base to save Bucky and his squad.

“Are you going to stare at the bar all night or will you, finally, request something to drink?” The bartender smirks at him when Steve jumps slightly to the side, dragging the bench and making the rest of the drinkers to turn to him. The light song playing in the background wasn’t enough to hide the exchange and Steve considers politely nodding and leaving the bar. 

“I, thank you, but...” A bottle is placed in front of him and Steve makes a double take, it’s his favorite type of beer, not that it will get him drunk, but this one at least doesn’t taste like piss. 

“Drink up, soldier, I’m sure it will fortify you. Maybe some fish and chips to add some substance?” Before Steve can nod, the bartender scribbles something in a scrap of paper and pin’s it to a nail, where the cook can grab it.

There something in the bartender that he recognizes, but he is sure he never met the man standing at the other side of the counter. Maybe it is his posture or the way he moves around, seamless, in such a minimal space. Steve takes a sip and smiles, he seems to attract people that want to take care of him. Bucky was always there for him, Dr. Erskine saw something in him and transformed him, from a sickling to a grown man, Peggy managed to pull him up and made him truly into Captain America, and there had been Antoniette, the baker he met when he was still in training, back in America. 

Antoniette was a dirty blond, brown eyes, with almost no breasts and a look that could kill someone. She got confused sometimes about what he asked her, like more bacon or mayo, but she always brought the food hot and when she realized he didn’t have much money and usually asked for the burnt, end of shift leftovers, she started to make him wait until they closed, slipping him the leftovers the employees could take home. 

He liked the way she demanded answers, without being shy around him or acknowledging his persona; after he started touring, woman were always throwing themselves at him and it was refreshing to see someone that didn’t recognize or care he was Captain America. Steve learned to deal with attention, not that he found it bad per se, but it was strange after so long of them wanting Bucky and not even looking at him. The way Antoniette behaved was closer to a hunter trying to figure out if it wanted to kill his prey or not and Steve appreciated the evaluation, because it was not pity.

“Drink the beer or it will get warm and others tell me it taste horribly.” The man has a tiny smile on his face and Steve laughs, any other guy would praise the beverage. 

“Ok, bossy. I’m Steve.”

“I know.” The man turns around and starts washing the dirty cups that accumulated from the night. Steve is amused, specially when he is sure he never saw him. 

“And you are?” Steve asks him, not expecting an answer, but he is surprised when the bartender turns around and has a big smirk on his face.

“Well, I could tell you the name I give my boss, and while I’m sure you would remember it, I don’t think you would appreciate the lying.” The smile. Steve thinks there is something he is missing and his head starts to spin, they way this man smiles, just feels like someone else he saw before. Only Steve is sure the man’s face is not familiar, for sure. “Let’s play a game, I tell you something I know about you and you tell me if I’m right. Who knows, maybe you will pick something about me.”

The proposal doesn’t make sense, how would Steve know something about the guy with him telling things about Steve? And what can the man know when they never met? Somehow, Steve feels slightly off, as if there is something he should know before participating in this game. He shakes his head, and looks forward and waits, maybe he can find something out.

“You are obviously a soldier, now you are in charge of a command. From what I see the image of glorified american soldier is no longer and is standing before me a true hero.” Steve knows that anyone could know this, specially if they traveled to America in the last few months,and another worker at the bar could’ve told this new bartender about his new position, they did celebrate here after the rescuing.

“Anyone could know that.” He say it tightly, not knowing how to react.

“But would they know how bothered you were by the uniform or how you felt like a monkey in a circus? Or how you felt disarmed every time one of choir girls got near you?” The smile that started amused turned into a twisted and almost cruel sneer. “Or perhaps how you wanted to kiss your Peggy, or how you described her body?”

Steve stops breathing for a second, who would know these things? Until he remembers when he talked about Peggy.  
 _  
“So you find this Peggy charming?” Antoniette cocks her head to the side and brings him a sandwich, slightly burned, and a bit sloppy with too much sauce._

_“She was very nice to me, even when she was being professional. I like that she treats me like anyone else there. ” Steve says carefully, avoiding mentioning any of the training program or the fact he shouldn’t be here at all, but he had to sneak in and see Antoniette before traveling to Italy._

_“Is she beautiful? You never said it, only described her basic appearance, brunet, not tall, not short, inspiring and an agent of herself.” She stops in front of Steve, pretending not to hear the drunk man that calls for another drink, at the other side of the bar._

_“She has...” Steve stops for a moment, trying to find the right words. “She has warm brown eyes, a careful smile and a perfect standing, at all times. She wear high heels and isn’t bothered by it. ”_

_“Does she have a big ...” Antoniette jiggles her breasts and Steve laughs, between Peggy’s forceful attitude and Antoinette's readiness to be brutally honest, he is made._

_“She is very proportional, and they are quite nice.” He tries to keep a straight face, but he can’t, and ends up giggling like a little kid. “They aren’t big, and I always see her in uniform, but she is very beautiful.”_

_“I bet.” Antoniette smirks and asks him if he is close to asking her on a date._

_“I don’t think we have time for that, we will be leaving soon.” He says it in a small voice, looking up at her, to see her reaction._

_“Ah, so this is goodbye, Captain Rogers?” Her eyes get cold for a moment and get back at her usual amusement._

_“I wanted to say thank you and goodbye. I thought I owed you.”_

_“You owe me nothing. You go and win the war, Captain and I’ll think if I forgive you for not being here.” They nod at each other and Steve finally starts eating his food.  
_

The smile is just like Antoinette's and only she would know about this, but Steve can’t imagine she would tell anyone about it: what would she win with that. And how would this guy knows Antoinette’s Captain Rogers was the Steve before him? He could be a spy, but why would a spy need to know about Peggy? Or why would he aboard Steve like this?

The bartender puts the plate of fish and chips on the table, and smiles tightly at him, as if sensing Steve reflexive mood. He doesn't think the food has anything that will kill him, but he challenges the man with a hard glare; when the swift fingers grab a chip from the bottom of the plate and promptly put it in the pinkish mouth, Steve nods and starts eating.

“Rogers, are you coming?” Bucky shouts from the door and Steve realizes most people already left, and the rest of the soldiers are moving out together. 

Steve considers following them: some will lose themselves in the streets, others will find company and one or two will get back to their quarters. Right now, he wants neither, he just wants to find out more about this guy, so he waves at his friend and turns back to the bartender. The thing is when he looks back, things are not the same and he isn’t at the bar anymore, he just isn’t sure where he is.


	2. Chapter 2

Loki looks at Steve and smiles at his momentary confusion. As a good soldier he tenses quickly and looks at Loki with distrust. He imagines the Captain wants to understand who he is and why his face changed when they traveled. It’s not easy to use his powers here, his father let him have enough for emergencies and to handle the occasional daily problem, but since this is supposed to be a punishment, Odin took measures for Loki to learn. 

“Who are you? How did we...”

“I’m Loki Odinson and we are here because I’ve brought you.” Loki smiles at how Steve steps back when he steps forward, his hands coming up to touch Steve’s shoulders.“Do you belive in magic, Steve Rogers?”

Steve eyes are incredulous and Loki likes his initial disbelief and the way the skin around his eyes immediately tense. One of the things he found so fascinating about the Midgardian was the way he could pass from a vulnerable boy to a steeling soldier. 

“See, there are many things out there, things you don’t know about, that none of you seem to see or know it exists. I had my fun watching you, Antoinette was particularly fun, I just had to channel my moronic brother.”

“I don’t know what you are playing here and what technology you got from Hydra, but as I soon as I figure out a way out... ” Loki waves him off and Steve pushes his chest, making them separate and Loki’s hand fall to the side of his body.

“Oh, I’m not like you, and I don’t care for what this Hydra is, or what is this technology you speak of. I’m not using anything, other than my magic.” Loki smirks and pulls Steve’s gun from his belt and turns the metal into a rose.

The rose is a startling green, glittering with gold until Loki makes her turn back into the gun and puts her back in it’s place. It is a strange feeling that crosses Loki’s body, of a need for compliment, of wanting Steve to understand and smile at him. Somewhere in his mind, there is a small voice wanting Steve not to be afraid of him.

“How is that possible? What are you?” Steve’s voice is horsy and Loki shrugs, deciding to show the Midgardian.  
He shows Asgard and the palace, his mother and his brother, Odin’s words echoing on the throne room, as he condemned Loki to a human’s lifespan on Midgard, to learn not to interfere on their destiny. Steve gasps as Loki shows him Fenrir and how he pulled two man from a cave that would certainly be locked away by snow, dying as their body wasn’t feet for weather. Loki is proud of his wolf, of how strong the lost cub he found on the forest grown loyal to him and he still thinks those human that crossed a portal where nevertheless innocent.

“He punished you for saying them?” Steve voice is distant, his eyes questioning as his tone.  
“He punished me for traveling through portals that brought me to Jotun, they are our mortal enemies.” Loki shows him a memory, almost forgotten of ice giants, looking always for a casket, their steps flicking through a book his old nurse used to read him when he was still a child. “Asgardians don’t deal well with a man that handles magic, they prefer brute force.”

Steve looks at him as they image of the books dissolve and it’s Frigga’s hands teaching Loki how to call forward seidr. Her eyes gentle and her voice calm as she told him how to manipulate magic and how to defend himself from the attacks of the older boys. When the scene shifts around them, he can see Steve before his changes, changes Loki learned weren’t normal for humans. He still doesn’t understand how this science can do things like magic and work so differently.

“I’m sorry.” Steve says and Loki believes he means it.

“Why are you sorry? It wasn’t you that beat me and it wasn’t you that found me strange, or is the apology a form of saying I’m too different from you?” He bears his teeth and steps away from Steve, the images around them chattering to the ground and Loki’s breath catching at his throat as Steve gets his wrist and squeezes it.

“I’m sorry you too suffered on the hands of the bullies.” Steve doesn’t let go and Loki brings them back to the bar, the illusion around them dissipating the black room and turning back to the now empty place. “We never left.”

“No, I just disguised the place, caught your attention.” Loki smiles again, sad, his body already being pulled back home.

“What is happening?” Steve shouts as light starts to involve his body.

“My punishment is over, I’m going back home.” Loki throws at him a small rock, and then turns his head up. “One day, maybe you will need my help, use that and I’ll protect you.”

In a second he is gone, the bar and Steve left behind and the motion that brings him back to the bridge between the worlds. Loki nods at his brother and accepts the hand of the All Father on his shoulder and wonders if he will ever get to see Steve Rogers again.

+++

Steve thinks he hallucinated, doesn’t really thinks about the small shiny green rock he transfers mechanically from uniform to civil clothes and back at the uniform. When he is saying goodbye to Peggy, he smiles and touches the rock, silently bidding a farewell to Loki, the Asgardian that could transform himself and watch over Steve.

When he hits the cold water, the last thing he sees is a green light shining through and he smiles as he closes his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This end up being a short one, I struggled a lot with how to make Steve and Loki meet, without turning into a huge story. I hope you liked anyway and I'm sorry I couldn't make it bigger.


End file.
